I straighten, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth,and see the smoke-gray gaze I know too well. Thane stands next to me. So close.
Even bruised. Burned. After I hurt him—really hurt him—he held my hair.
And that wrecks me more.
His eyes tighten and he clucks his tongue. “Your eyes are bloodshot,” he says, studying me. “Your body isn’t yet used to this level of power.”
Before I can say anything, Valen arrives. His robes billow as he steps into the wreckage, eyes scanning the scorched earth, the cracked stone, the air still humming with elemental residue. His gaze lands on Thane—bruised, burned, but upright—then shifts to me.
His expression tightens. Not with anger—but something deeper. Calculation. Concern.
“What in the name of the Elemental gods happened here?” he asks. His voice is sharp, clipped. But not accusing. Not yet.
It’s controlled. Measured. As if he already knows the answer—but needs to hear it fromme.
Before I can find my voice, Thane speaks.
“Her Elemental magics merged for the first time—like we suspected they eventually would.”
Each word is precise. Held carefully in check.
Like we suspected they would.
The words hit harder than the earth, the fire—any of it. I blink, my breath catching.
We.They.
My hands curl into fists, but I don’t stay silent. My voice slices through the haze of magics still lingering in the air, sharp and unsteady.
“Like you suspected it would?Is that all I am to you? Just a weapon you’re waiting to see explode?”
Valen exhales, measured, but I see the flicker of something inhis eyes. Hesitation.
Thane’s jaw tightens. But he doesn’t look away. Just watches me with that same infuriating intensity. Still standing so close.
And somehow, that only makes my indignation burn hotter. But beneath that, something else stirs. Not magics.
Anger.
This ismylife.
Spiritborn or not, Valen keeps telling me I have a choice—that I get to decide who I become. But they’re still making the choices.
Forme.
Like I’m a prophecy first, a person second. I should be the one to say how my life goes,for fuck’s sake.
“That’s not what we—” Valen starts.
“No?” I cut in, voice rising. “Because itsure as hellfeels like it!”
I step forward, throw my arms wide—gesturing to the scorched field, the crackling air, the mess they expected—butIhad to live through.
“You stand there analyzing me like I’m some kind of experiment, while I’m the one who nearly burned this entire place to the ground! While I’m the one whohurt—”
I stop.
The word sticks. Sharp. Ugly.
